I will give a Canadian perspective on Nickelback. Note I do not personally enjoy their music and laughed at your comparison to Creed/P.o.M. because I often voice my lack of interest for them by ascribing Chad Kroeger to being a Canadian Eddy Vedder (sorry Pearl Jam fans, but all his music sounds exactly the same).
In Canada, our federal regulatory body (the CRTC) requires radio stations (and to some effect streaming platforms) play Canadian music for a minimum of 30% of total air time; a rule implemented in January of 1971. As you can imagine, a top hits radio station trying to play fresh music have little selection in a Canadian market because of our population and industry size, so you end up hearing a lot of replayed Canadian "bangers" from the likes of Nickelback.
So why is Nickelback popular in Canada? For starters we don't have a lot of big name hard rock bands in the 21st century. We have a lot of indie rock, but boys driving truck or working the oil field aren't getting down to Arcade Fire and Theory Of A Deadman on their shift. Nickelback has a couple loud "bangers" such as 'Rockstar' and 'Burn It To The Ground' that are the anthems played at summer cottage parties and hockey games as the goal song.
Now onto the hate... I have personally never enjoyed Nickelback, dating as far back as middle school having to listen to 'How You Remind Me' every day after school on the bus. I know all the words because of the exposure, and I will sing along ironically in a crowd but I generally think its not good music. I feel there are many just like me, people who do not like their music but will pretend to like it in crowds to go with the flow... when it comes on in a more private/intimate setting I have the impresson few people could raise their hand when pressed to answer if they've ever owned a Nickelback CD or attending a concert to see them specifically.
In Canada at least it feels as though Nickelback is propped up by our music industry / regulators, so they probably receive more airtime and by extension a broader listenership than they would in an entirely free market. The spillover into the US I imagine has something to do with hockey, and like I said the band's music is used at games as hype up tracks and goal songs. The real question I ask is "What do you actually like / find unique about Nickelback?" to which I've never really found an adequate answer.
Not liking certain things (e.g., New Kids on the Block*) was more important to me as a youth. I think past a certain age, defining yourself by your tastes becomes not so much the done thing. In fact I define myself as a person who does not define herself by her tastes. So there!
*Could anything reveal my age more precisely than this, without being my actual age?
1) Some trends are annoying, and in some cases people complain about them. I think this is an overreaction, but if you think Wordle or Meghan Markle are annoying and wish they showed up in your feed less, that's not necessarily signaling so much as it's trying to keep the kids off your lawn.
2) We define ourselves by things we give up all the time. Catholics don't eat meat on Lenten Fridays, other people keep Kosher or Halal. Some people don't eat gluten, or potato chips, or whatever. Maybe Nickelbacking is in part some of that?
3) I'm reminded of the anti-Merlot movement after the movie "Sideways," which might be before your time. Paul Giamatti played a wine snob who went on anti-Merlot rants, and for several years, a lot of people saw Merlot as an overrated, underperforming wine, similar to the view of White Zinfandel. That was just sort of a meme, that only suckers enjoyed Merlot. Nickelback may have some of that, too - once the people around you declare that only rubes like Nickelback, you start feeling that way too.
None of those points really go to the need to aggressively announce how anti-Nickelback you are.
Report from the field: all day I've been asking coworkers their opinion of Nickelback, and the response I've gotten so far has been decidedly in the "hate them" bucket. So, the meme lives on, and is probably still being used in the sense that RC describes.
"a group of people who aren’t particularly known for volunteering, charity or altruism"
Without getting into whether profit-seeking is better or worse than volunteering, charity, and altruism, I think in a lot of participants in wokeism and other agitation movements are instead/also bad at profit-making activities. Wokesters and the leaders of other movements (including right-leaning ones) are often highly credentialed but not traditionally successful. I think in some cases, these movements have a bit of a Road to Wigan Pier/elite overproduction aspect to them.
Good article. Unfortunately the phrase I took away, somehow, is "it's like Nickelback on a pineapple pizza", which I fully intend to use to create humor and push social cohesion through outgrouping.
That's going straight into my lexicon, along with "the absence of mold does not indicate bread." Thanks!
I will give a Canadian perspective on Nickelback. Note I do not personally enjoy their music and laughed at your comparison to Creed/P.o.M. because I often voice my lack of interest for them by ascribing Chad Kroeger to being a Canadian Eddy Vedder (sorry Pearl Jam fans, but all his music sounds exactly the same).
In Canada, our federal regulatory body (the CRTC) requires radio stations (and to some effect streaming platforms) play Canadian music for a minimum of 30% of total air time; a rule implemented in January of 1971. As you can imagine, a top hits radio station trying to play fresh music have little selection in a Canadian market because of our population and industry size, so you end up hearing a lot of replayed Canadian "bangers" from the likes of Nickelback.
So why is Nickelback popular in Canada? For starters we don't have a lot of big name hard rock bands in the 21st century. We have a lot of indie rock, but boys driving truck or working the oil field aren't getting down to Arcade Fire and Theory Of A Deadman on their shift. Nickelback has a couple loud "bangers" such as 'Rockstar' and 'Burn It To The Ground' that are the anthems played at summer cottage parties and hockey games as the goal song.
Now onto the hate... I have personally never enjoyed Nickelback, dating as far back as middle school having to listen to 'How You Remind Me' every day after school on the bus. I know all the words because of the exposure, and I will sing along ironically in a crowd but I generally think its not good music. I feel there are many just like me, people who do not like their music but will pretend to like it in crowds to go with the flow... when it comes on in a more private/intimate setting I have the impresson few people could raise their hand when pressed to answer if they've ever owned a Nickelback CD or attending a concert to see them specifically.
In Canada at least it feels as though Nickelback is propped up by our music industry / regulators, so they probably receive more airtime and by extension a broader listenership than they would in an entirely free market. The spillover into the US I imagine has something to do with hockey, and like I said the band's music is used at games as hype up tracks and goal songs. The real question I ask is "What do you actually like / find unique about Nickelback?" to which I've never really found an adequate answer.
Not liking certain things (e.g., New Kids on the Block*) was more important to me as a youth. I think past a certain age, defining yourself by your tastes becomes not so much the done thing. In fact I define myself as a person who does not define herself by her tastes. So there!
*Could anything reveal my age more precisely than this, without being my actual age?
I have a bunch of unrelated thoughts:
1) Some trends are annoying, and in some cases people complain about them. I think this is an overreaction, but if you think Wordle or Meghan Markle are annoying and wish they showed up in your feed less, that's not necessarily signaling so much as it's trying to keep the kids off your lawn.
2) We define ourselves by things we give up all the time. Catholics don't eat meat on Lenten Fridays, other people keep Kosher or Halal. Some people don't eat gluten, or potato chips, or whatever. Maybe Nickelbacking is in part some of that?
3) I'm reminded of the anti-Merlot movement after the movie "Sideways," which might be before your time. Paul Giamatti played a wine snob who went on anti-Merlot rants, and for several years, a lot of people saw Merlot as an overrated, underperforming wine, similar to the view of White Zinfandel. That was just sort of a meme, that only suckers enjoyed Merlot. Nickelback may have some of that, too - once the people around you declare that only rubes like Nickelback, you start feeling that way too.
None of those points really go to the need to aggressively announce how anti-Nickelback you are.
Report from the field: all day I've been asking coworkers their opinion of Nickelback, and the response I've gotten so far has been decidedly in the "hate them" bucket. So, the meme lives on, and is probably still being used in the sense that RC describes.
"But an absence of mold does not indicate bread, and does not fill."
I don't know if this quote is original or not, but it's awesome.
"a group of people who aren’t particularly known for volunteering, charity or altruism"
Without getting into whether profit-seeking is better or worse than volunteering, charity, and altruism, I think in a lot of participants in wokeism and other agitation movements are instead/also bad at profit-making activities. Wokesters and the leaders of other movements (including right-leaning ones) are often highly credentialed but not traditionally successful. I think in some cases, these movements have a bit of a Road to Wigan Pier/elite overproduction aspect to them.
Good article. Unfortunately the phrase I took away, somehow, is "it's like Nickelback on a pineapple pizza", which I fully intend to use to create humor and push social cohesion through outgrouping.